VideoGamer.com Plays

What we've been playing this week.

It was when we sat around in the office and played four-player split-screen that I first realised how good Blur multiplayer was. Neon, Wez, James and myself gathered around the office TV and proceeded to blow the crap out of each other. What makes Blur so good with friends is that it's incredibly accessible, in a Mario Kart kind of way, but also far fairer. For hardcore gamers who have nightmares about the infamous Blue Shell, Blur's lack of unfair power-ups makes it a proper gamer's game. You can, for the most part, defend yourself, and good drivers are going to have a distinct advantage over complete novices who know nothing about racing lines. Great fun and more depth than you might think.

I love RTS games, but I'm crap at them. I mean, I can usually complete single-player campaigns on the normal difficulty setting. But I haven't got a hope in hell online. So it will be with StarCraft II, due out in July. I'm more interested in the exciting single-player campaign because I know I simply won't enjoy the multiplayer. I used to think this was something developers could do something about: match make me with other players who are equally as crap as I am, I used to plead. But now I'm resigned to my fate. It may be impossible to solve this problem, to cater for the likes of me. The jump in skill required to play RTS games like StarCraft II offline to the skill required to play RTS games like StarCraft II online is bigger than in any other genre. It may be the case that the RTS genre will always be too hardcore for me to play online. And that makes me sad.

For reasons I probably shouldn't go into, I've been thinking about beavers all week. I have a sudden need for a beaver, but no matter how hard I try I just can't find one. Someone told me I should go up North and hang around by the rivers; apparently dampness is a good sign when you're on a beaver hunt. I still couldn't find the furry prize I was after, so I tried laying down some bait: I sprayed my juice all over the floor and then hid in a nearby bush. Sadly this didn't work. I waited a while and no beavers showed up, but as I turned around I saw that a big bear was creeping up on me from behind. Naturally I did what anyone would do in those circumstances: I whipped out my pistol and fired it off in his face. The hairy beast moaned and fell to the ground, then I ran over to get at his meat. I'd really wanted a beaver, but sometimes you have to just take what you can get.

I thought I'd finished with SoulSilver quite some time ago, but as I'm representing VideoGamer.com in the national Pokémon tournament in Birmingham this weekend, I thought I better get some practice under my belt. Well, not practice as such, because I'm already as awesome as I'm likely to get, but general training. Although tournament rules mean that each Pokémon's level is capped at 50, I'm still grinding my way through the Elite Four to learn more powerful moves, sorting out my hold items, and deciding on my final team. With my Tyranitar (Dr. Baltar) heading up the squad, I'm confident that I'll be walking away from the tournament a Pokémon master.

What have you been playing this week? Let us know by posting in the comments section below.

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User Comments

More pokemon heart gold: I hooked, my team is already quite strong for now and this is my final team for the next few gym battles atleast:
Sandy (sandslash)
Butterfree
Ultrasound (crobat)
Cynder (typlosion)
Spartan (pidgeot)
Watervapor (vapoureon)